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Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
There are plenty of interesting, unusual, historic and surprising stories related to Jeeps and their owners. In addition, some of these features have nothing to do with jeeps. This link will display all featured stories starting from the latest.
Looking for parts and not sure where to go? There are a variety of large and small new and used parts sellers both online and offline.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
UPDATE: Don makes some good points in his comment below as to why there might not be any MBs pictured.
The January 1942 issue of Scientific American included an article titled “Meet the Jeep”, one I’ve been waiting about 7 years to snag. For some reason, though MBs were already being produced, no images of the MB were included. Instead, the first image shows a Ford GP. The second photo shows a Bantam BRC-40 T2E1.
UPDATE: This was on eBay.
Some good DJ-3A & FC-150 photos and some rare early swamp racing photos.
“Original salesman’s non color catalog , 11 x 17 , 8 pages , includes salesman’s messages , salesman’s contests , shows some models , etc.”
UPDATE: Steve obtained copies of article #2, so now this list is complete!
Nine years ago there was a post about “Jivin up the Jeep”, which referenced a series of articles in Mechanix Illustrated Magazine. At that time, I could only locate articles #3 and #4. Steve Zamell just shared the earliest of the four with me (Thanks!). And, I found a poor image of article #2 So, below you’ll find information about all four articles.
According to the information on this Modern Mechanic Post, the October and November 1946 issues of Modern Mechanic magazine each included an article titled “Jivin up the Jeep” that shares various modifications. Those articles were a big hit across the US, as readers from all over sent in follow up suggestions and ideas. That led to an additional two articles, one in April of 1947 and one in November of 1947. I’ve shown the pictorial portions of the articles below. There’s additional content on the 1947 links.
From October 1946 Part I – A few Jeep ideas:
From November 1946 Part II – I just bought a cheap issue of this magazine. I’ll update these poor pics found on a current eBay ad once I receive my copy of the magazine. Looks like this article covers the creation of a custom hardtop:
From April 1947: Custom Tops
In case anyone’s interested, Four Wheeler ran an article by Verne Simons about making seat covers.
https://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/body-chassis/cj-2a-seats/
This June 04, 1955, article about the Rolligon goes into great depth about the history of the invention. You can see more pics here. The pages below are much clearer once you click on them.
This adventure was recorded in the April 30, 1955, issue of the Saturday Evening Post.
The newest issue of the Dispatcher Magazine landed in my mailbox today. This issue includes a look at Bob Christy’s Empire Tractor “Rena”, along with a pre-jeep look at history thanks to Jim Allen. Dan Fucella continues describing his 10,000 mile journey in a wagon, while Eric Jarvis shares his D-Day-related journey to France.
Steve forwarded this article about the development of a mobile CP. The photos show how such a modification might have been done.
The is the July/August 1955 issue of Globe-Trotter magazine published by the Willys Export Company. It is fourteen pages.
Air Trails Hobbies was a ‘how to’ magazine that provided news, reports, designs, and ‘how to’s’ on a range of hobbies. It’s intellectual bent on science and design just makes it more odd that it’s overview of the Willys History seems so lacking, especially in the 4WD jeep department. Given that, by February 1955 (the date of the issue below) the CJ-5 was already introduced, it seems a bit odd to ignore the latest jeep!
Lots of fun articles in this April 1955 issue.
This May 14, 1951, article “Life Goes Ridgerunning” from Life Magazine used to be posted in full on the Yakima Ridge Runner’s website, but that site appears to be no longer active. So, you’ll find it below.
If you’ve never seen the color footage of the Ridge Runners jeeping in the Cascade Mountains, that’s worth a throwback look: http://www.ewillys.com/2011/03/29/2-more-videos-from-jpzombie-com/
And, there’s the widely circulated set of two videos that may have been filmed at the same time the writers of the magazine article were visiting Yakima (video 1 and video 2)
The June 1943 issue of Motor Magazine out of Buenos Aires, Argentina, featured this introduction to the jeep on its front page. I snagged this copy off of eBay in December and it finally arrived. The 24-page magazine printed on newspaper covers a wide range of automotive subjects, most far above my rudimentary Spanish. I’m pretty surprised any of these survived!
Here are the first two pages (the only two that included the jeep as far as I could tell):
Also included in the magazine was this ad(?) featuring a jeep.
This August 1955 article in Popular Mechanics includes 2 CJ-5s. It took a nuclear scientist to locate the article (long story), but it dove tails nicely off yesterday’s Willys News post that included an article on uranium mining (last page of Willys News) about these two prospectors.
iI’ve shared some of the pics and captions, but now I can take some okay scans (not great, just okay) of the full pages. This has the KW logo, the Kaiser Willys branding, and a mention of the Kaiser-Willys Dealers and Salesmen.
This photo and caption appeared in the October 1953 issue of Popular Science (page 124). There are several interesting things in this photo. First, this jeep is setup with right-hand-drive; second, the body has been cut similar to the way some of the DJ-3As would be trimmed on the sides; third, this vehicle is only two-wheel-drive. This is the earliest photo that I know showing an experimental mail jeep that, arguably, led to the DJ-3A Dispatcher/Delivery/Convertible production models. The picture, without the caption, can also be found on the CJ-3B page about mail jeeps.
This 600lb jeep-like vehicle was built by O.L. Munding of Glendale, California. It was included in the October 1953 issue of Popular Science (page 124). On the same page, the magazine also featured a rat rod vehicle built by Munding that was powered by two air-rolled Ranger engines, war surplus items originally used to start big bomber engines.
This ad was published in the August 1954 issue of Fortune Magazine. When Kaiser bought Willys, one of the early advertising decisions was to use the KW logo on various marketing documents. I suspect this was an attempt to brand across the jeep and Willys Aero lines. This strategy was dropped by 1955, followed shortly with the dropping of the Aero vehicles.
View all the information on eBay
TJ shared this wonderful illustration shared by the French company of Jeepstock.
UPDATE: According to the author in the 1964 Jeep News Vol. 10 No. 7, this article was published in the September 1964 issue of Trailer Life (I previously guess it was in 1963).
I bought a wagoner literature combo off ebay that included the “Test the ‘Jeep’ Wagoneer” excerpt from an unknown issue of Trailer Life Magazine that also included the early Wagoneer brochure on the post below this one. There are still two sets of these available for purchased the last time I checked.
The writer, Bruce Grantland, concluded that the Wagoneer was a new type of vehicle for towing, better suited to towing long distances in remote areas better than any other vehicle of the time.
This article appeared in the July 1952 issue of Popular Science (pgs 79-82). This is article is interesting in that is covers some of the complaints GIs had about earlier jeeps and how the M-38A1 attempts to address those issues.
The February 1963 issue of Popular Mechanics included an article about the New Mexico Jeep Derby held annually in Truth or Consquences, New Mexico. It’s a great article about the early days of jeep racing. I’ve also included a video of one Derby race, but the quality is poor. Still, in some clips, you can see just how much the co-pilot shifts his body around the jeep.
View Popular Mechanics February 1963 at Google Books
I took a chance on eBay and bought a 1949 issue of the Goodyear’s Magazine for Men off of ebay that mentioned, in the ebay ad, about having an article on a Jeep Posse. The magazine turned out to be a sort-of marketing piece by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company focused on men and with several interesting articles. Below you’ll find two articles from the magazine and a quiz.
The first article is a pretty early article on Utah’s Bountiful Jeep Posse. The other article covers a man named John Fordon and his business in New York City called “Beck ‘n Call”. Finally, the Fordon article includes a quiz on streets from around the country, names as relevant to day as they were back in 1949.
And now, the article on Fordon. Also, note the “Where are they” quiz.
The May 1967 issue of Popular Mechanics includes the article “Four-Wheel Safari Test In the Rugged Rockies”. The article covers a two-day test in the high mountains of Colorado from Telluride to Ouray. The main goal was to see if the Ford Bronco and/or the International Scout could compete with a V-6 equipped CJ-5. The conclusion was interesting.
The May 1948 Outdoor Life magazine has an article called “Jeep Posse Fights Fire & Flood”, but I can’t find a reasonable priced issue. If anyone happens to have that article or the magazine, I’d be interested in sharing the story.
Cover of the May 1948 issue of Outdoor Life with the Jeep Posse article.
This issue includes (from a worthpoint auction), “Jeep Posse Fights Fire & Flood”, ” Turkeys of the Tall Peaks” and ” This Happened to Me”. There is also a print suitable for framing titled ” The Battle with the Wolves” by Fred R. Zepp. There are to many vintage ads such as Champion Outboards, Remington, Dupont, Heddon, Dipsy Doodle Wood Manufacturing Co., True Temper The Rod of Champion, Calvert, and more to mention, there is a color ad for Old Thompson Brand Blended Whiskey on the back cover.
